Ahead of the Friday release of the Michael Jackson biopic, “Michael,” family member Taj Jackson, nephew of Michael and son of Tito Jackson, publicly challenged the media on Twitter/X. On Tuesday, he asserted that the media can no longer “control the narrative anymore of who Michael Jackson truly was,” stating that the public will watch the movie and “decide for themselves.” He concluded by saying, “And you can’t handle that.”

The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and partially produced by Michael Jackson’s estate, chronicles the King of Pop’s life from his early days as a 10-year-old member of the Jackson 5 through to the peak of his popularity around 1988, coinciding with his “Bad” album tour when he was 30. Initially, the biopic was intended to cover later events, including the 1993 child molestation accusations and subsequent investigation. However, lawyers for the Jackson Estate discovered that a settlement with an accuser legally prevented any depiction or mention of them in the film. This necessitated the development of a new third act, requiring 22 days of reshoots and an additional cost of $15-20 million. Early predictions from Variety anticipate a domestic opening of $65-70 million for “Michael” and a potential worldwide gross of $700 million. Currently, the film holds a 37% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on aggregated critics’ reviews. Taj Jackson expressed his anticipation for critics to “eat crow,” adding that he intends to be “that petty.”

Meanwhile, the new “Scary Movie” franchise is also making headlines, directly parodying the “Michael” promotional material with its own new advertisements. A recently released poster features the franchise’s Ghostface-inspired killer dressed as Michael Jackson. The poster includes two taglines: “Prepare to Hee-Hee” and “Touching Fans Everywhere,” the latter being a direct reference to the child abuse allegations that have long shadowed Jackson. The “Michael” biopic, distributed by Lionsgate Films, explicitly avoids exploring any of these allegations. According to a recent New York Mag feature on director Antoine Fuqua, he “is not convinced that Jackson did what he is accused of doing, despite the number of accusers (five) and the fact that Jackson publicly talked about sharing his bed with boys.”

“Scary Movie 6,” which brings back many central characters from the first two films—including Marlon Wayans as Shorty Meeks, Shawn Wayans as Ray Wilkins, Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell, and Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks—is set for release on June 5 via Paramount Pictures. The Wayans brothers have returned to writing and producing the film after being absent for the previous three installments. A short teaser trailer released on April 22 showcased “Saturday Night Live” star Kenan Thompson portraying a clumsy version of the King of Pop.